Wolfe #3
He smiled again, from ear to ear, stretching his mouth so wide it looked unnatural.
“I’m glad you asked. Despite what you may believe about my employer, the Skull King has great respect for tradition.
He understands Cosa Nostra has maintained its power in Palermo for generations, a very beautiful and moving tale.
And he would like for you to continue your regime… but under his discretion.”
“Meaning?”
“You take eighty percent of the profits of the other gangs and give it to him. And the Skull King takes seventy percent of your business. He’s giving you a discounted rate because he’s a swell guy like that.”
“And in exchange?”
“In exchange?” he asked with a laugh. “You get to live. You get the honor of serving our lord. Trust me when I tell you he’s more god than man. He’s fucking fabulous.”
“Fabulous…”
“Yep.”
I gave a slow nod because that was a strange way to describe the ultimate crime kingpin. Sounded more like a fashion icon. “And if I say no?”
“I’ll be very sad,” he said as he pursed his lips and squinted. “Because I’m kinda really into you.”
I couldn’t tell if I was being hit on or threatened—and that was a great strategy to employ. “I appreciate the flattery, but I prefer women.”
“Oh, I prefer women too,” he said. “But how does that saying go?” He cocked his head.
“Game recognizes game? Yeah, I think that’s what they say.
I was supposed to lure you into this trap and kill you, but it seems like such a shame for you to lose all your limbs and your pretty face because that pussy-ass bitch over there couldn’t step up.
” He glanced over to the car tire that protected Don Russo from view.
“He didn’t not step up,” I said. “I just stepped up quicker.”
“Can I tell you something?” he whispered as he shifted forward in the chair, his knees touching mine.
I leaned forward so our faces were close to each other, my arms on my knees. “I’m listening.”
He glanced at Don Russo again before he looked at me. “Cosa Nostra doesn’t stand a chance for what’s to come. And I would hate to see you go down with the ship. Work with us. I can put in a good word with the King.”
“That’s a generous offer…”
“All of these guys are going in my private cemetery,” he said.
“You know what’s interesting? They’re the loudest at night.
” His eyes widened in delight. “And it really feels haunted…until the morning. Because in the morning, they’re all dead.
Sometimes I sleep on their graves. I laugh, knowing they can hear me. ”
Cristo.
“But I don’t want you in my graveyard, Wolfe. I want them to hear us laugh together. Listen to us drink a bottle of gin on cheap-ass plastic chairs. What do you say?”
Yep, this guy was fucking nuts. “I appreciate the offer, but if this ship goes down, I have to go down with it.”
“No, he has to go down with it,” he said. “The first mate is free to do what he wants.”
“As true as that is, I’m a man of my word. My hands are tied.”
He gave a slow nod before he sighed in disappointment.
“In regard to the offer the Skull King has issued, it feels like a pyramid scheme.”
He chuckled loudly.
“I don’t think that’s going to work for us, but we’re receptive to other business opportunities.”
He shook his head. “The Skull King doesn’t negotiate.”
“I get that. But neither does Cosa Nostra. And neither do Sicilians. We’re a very proud people and don’t appreciate an outside invader trying to dictate our businesses and our way of life.
It’s unfortunate because we would have loved to have a partnership with the Skull King.
Could have given him a wholesale price on our product to sell at his discretion, shared our distribution channels with him, lots of things.
But coming in here and threatening us and chopping off body parts…
that’s not the best way to go about it.”
He shrugged. “Just doing my job.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“And my job is also to kill all of you now—especially since you denied my offer.”
I had a knife in my boot, close to where my hand dangled over my knee. It would be hard to kill him quickly because his neck was as thick as a tree trunk and he had a whole militia behind him, but if I wasn’t going to make it out of here, neither was Icarus. “Do what you’ve got to do.”
He brought his hands together and slid his palms past each other as he became lost in thought. “Or…”
“I like the sound of or.”
“I let you go this one time because I feel a little…icky about killing you.” He twisted his hand a couple times.
“Don Russo should be in this hot seat right now, not you. But we both know he’d have been dead ten minutes ago if he’d had the balls to walk over here.
It just doesn’t feel right for you to lose your head when it should be his. ”
If I hadn’t walked over here, we’d all be dead right now.
“So I’m going to let you go. But you’re going to reconsider your decision.
I’m taking down the groups one by one, and I’ll save Cosa Nostra for last. So you have some time, just not a lot.
” His hands came back together again. “And if you don’t give the answer I want to hear…
” He broke his hands apart in a form of a shrug.
“Then you leave me no choice, Wolfe. You’ll be my next haunt. ”